GDB 39.0 Wrap Up: Ducks @ Oilers

I’ve been drinking wine from a mason jar, and I don’t even care what the score was. Happy New Year, Nation! Final Score: 1-0 Ducks

It’s been a weird year to be an Oilers fan, huh? Not only was last season (2014-15) a complete write off, many fans, within the Nation, were even cheering for losses to get a better chance at our beloved Connor McDavid. The vibe was getting ugly around here as Oilers fans desperately needed something to feel good about. When the Oilers finished the season in 28th place we thought the Oilers would draft 3rd and we started thinking about drafting Noah Hanifin, and how he would be a decent consolation prize after McEichel went off the board. That all changed when Billy Daly flipped that golden ticket.

After the draft was said and done the hype surrounding the Oilers was at a level that OilersNation.com had never seen before. The saviour of the franchise was here, management had been given a shakeup, and this was the year that the Oilers would make some headway in the league standings. We watched as Connor McDavid started the season slowly and then seemed to blossom with every game that he played. We started to see what the hype surrounding this kid was all about, and realize how truly lucky we were to have him. We also felt the heartbreak of seeing Connor crash into the boards and have weeks of his rookie season stolen from him as result of a broken clavicle.

As 2015 winds to a close we now watch the Oilers in a position that we haven’t seen in years despite not once having a healthy roster. Thanks to a weak Pacific Division the Oilers find themselves playing meaningful games down the stretch, and truly testing what the young core is made of. If they can just manage to hang on until reinforcements get healthy we may be in for a wild ride, down the stretch. Tonight’s loss certainly didn’t help their chances of making the playoffs and, once again, special teams was to blame. The Oilers left points on the board tonight, my friends, and I’m blaming the power play. At least the PP can go no where but up from here in 2016.

We wrap

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Shout out to the fan that caught Taylor Hall’s stick, and an equal shout out to Taylor Hall for making sure he got to take one home.

Welcome back to the lineup Brandon Davidson. I never knew that I could miss you as much as I did during your injury.

Davidson’s return meant that Nikita Nikitin was assigned to Bakersfield. I can’t imagine his recall helped increase his trade value at all. If Chiarelli can get ANYTHING for him I’ll start working on a Chia statue myself.

I thought Brad Hunt had a decent game on defence tonight. He always seemed to be in the way, and I mean that in a good way.

Cam Talbot rebounded nicely from that horrible 90 seconds he had against Los Angeles. He made some huge saves tonight and kept the Oilers in it despite not necessarily deserving to be. He played good enough to win the game, but it’s tough to win when your team doesn’t score any goals. Talbot finished the night with 34 saves and a .971 save%.

At least Horcoff didn’t score?

The Oilers did very well in the faceoff circle, going 32/25 on the night.

Regardless of what happens with this ridiculous hockey team we’re all in this shit pit together. *high fives all around*

MOAR BAGGED WINE!

THE FACE PALMERS

58 days without Connor McDavid.

It’s hard to win a game when you can’t score a goal.

The Oilers could not have looked any more disinterested during the first period. They didn’t look ready to play and the Ducks ran the show, for the most part. Though the shots were only 11-9 in favour of the Ducks the play was not nearly that close.

Ryan Getzlaf only had two goals on the year? Welcome to Edmonton, Ryan! As usual, the Oilers played the role of a gracious host and gave Getzlaf a goal to help pull him out of his slump.

The Oilers may never score another power play goal. Not surprisingly, the Oilers went 0/3 with the man advantage including a 6 on 4 advantage to close out the game. Brutal.

Actually the Oilers lost the special teams battle entirely with Anaheim scoring on the power play.

Good thing Peter Chiarelli hasn’t traded Nuge yet. Ryan Kesler was too much to handle for Leon Draisaitl tonight, and that’s not a knock against Neon Leon, but he’s still 20-years old and figuring things out. The Oilers had more success producing offence when Todd McLellan reunited Hall-Nuge-Eberle.

Ryan Kesler looks as miserable as ever, but with a better tan.

Outshot 35-21 against by a Ducks team that has struggled to produce offence all season long.

THE NORTH X NORTHGRETZ PODCAST

This week the boys are joined by a couple of very special guests, Adam and Jeff fromPride Tape! They talk about their incredible initiative and how you can become involved, and Adam regales us with some tales from the early days of Oilersnation!

I’ve said for years now the oilers top guys NEED TO PRACTICE THEIR SHOTS EVERYNIGHT! Until we are a top team. With tha Dallas Stars I’m ? percent sure that’s what Benn said to his top guys and guess what now they score at will who would a thought.

Ya! Klefbom automatically makes this team better hey! Tell me more about how they were over .500 with him in the lineup. Klefbom is turning into petry 2.0 around here. He’s pretty average right now. Team needs to upgrade at d so he’s not overwhelmed when he does get rushed back.

You know what I saw. No one really gritting it out in the dirty areas. No one fights for ice in front of their net. No one looks to get bruised up and grab those sweet rebounds. We play a perimeter game, and that why we only score on the rush.

We need a Smytty or such to show these boys where you score the goals. Not just the coach explaining what it takes but a leader in the room scoring some gritty goals.